The Game of the Serpent
by LittleFlowerLei
Summary: Someone from Doug's past joins Jump Street. But will he and Tom be able to protect her from a past mistake? Chapter 5 up. TomOC
1. The McQuaid Brothers

**Chapter One **

The McQuaid Brothers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 21 Jump Street, and am getting acquainted with the second season (after having seen the first and third one. :P I have the fourth season, I just haven't watched it yet… :) )

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"AAAHH!" The McQuiad brothers screamed at each other as they made their entrance to Westlake High School. Actually, they were Tom Hanson and Dug Penhall, two undercover cops for the Jump Street Program. But you most likely already knew that much.

The students unaware of their true occupation cowered in fear as they pretended to be very touch and mean. When in actuality they were harmless unless provoked. Nice guys, pretending to be bad.

Doug McQuaid brother made his way to the back of the English class with Tom McQuaid following him and taking the seat beside his. They swung their legs up ontop of the desk once they'd sat down and put their hands behind their heads to relax remotely. Some people were looking at them with large, frightened eyes and some were ignoring them. The ones ignoring them didn't think they were so tough, and were mostly girls who knew they wouldn't get beat up by them.

The teacher watched as the McQuaid brothers took their seats and tapped his ballpoint pen on the desk with major irritation and his big brown eyebrow furred and in an angry position.

"Do you two think you can just come in at any time and interrupt my class?" He asked. It was actually a rhetorical question, they'd get in trouble anyway so it didn't matter which way they answered. "Lateness is one thing, but you don't just open the door and scream."

"I do," Tom said, raising his hand and chewing on the toothpick in his mouth at the same time. Doug laughed a hard, loud laugh as he and Tom smashed their knuckles together in a friendly fashion.

"Well, if you can interrupt my class—you must already know English." Doug rolled his eyes in a fake irritancy before he interrupted Tom to give a smart-ass answer.

"Obviously, I mean—we're speaking it aren't we?" But instead of using the correct form of that sentence, he actually said 'ain't' instead of 'aren't'. Something that made certain smart students giggle to themselves and leave the teacher irritated. So, he resorted to that old trick that all teachers know.

He turned his back on them and started teaching again.

It never fails. When a teacher sees that either a student is obviously ignorant of his own juvenile mistakes such as 'ain't' in the position of 'aren't', or if he knows he can't win the argument—he goes back to teaching and no body catches it except those that are closely listening. Tom and Doug smiled proudly at one another.

The teacher was discussing the proper way to structure a sentence so it has no fragments. He even wrote a sentence on the board and picked two students to come up to the board and edit the sentence. He picked Tom and some girl from the class who he called "Alice"

Alice was the first of the pair to get the sentence edited. She left some mistakes for Tom to find, probably to bother him in a good-natured way. She flipped her red hair to her right shoulder blade and walked back to her seat as Tom stood in front of the class, pretending to be ignorant to how to properly edit the rest of the sentence. And if you didn't know any better—you'd say he _really_ didn't know how. He did know how though, but was just pretending.

It was at lunch that they got close to solving the crime they had gone in for. The lunchroom was abuzz with activity as kids of all cliques (Nerds, preps, jocks, Goths, ect.) having small intimate conversations of their own and leaving the McQuaid brothers out of it.

Doug and Tom both got large lunches. Mostly sandwiches, cupcakes, puddings, and whatever the "Special" was that day. Out of everyone in the cafeteria, Tom and Doug had the most lunches.

"I'll bet you ten dollars you can't stuff the pudding and sandwich in your mouth at the same time." Tom said to Doug as he opened up the milk carton. Doug gave him a 'you can't be serious' look, but Tom was very serious.

'You're on!" Doug challenged loudly, he unwrapped the sandwich, pulled open the pudding tab, and shoved them both in his mouth at the same time. Tom dejectedly rolled his eyes and put ten dollars down on the table.

However, Doug ended up missing last period because he spent it throwing up in the bathroom.

As he came out of the stall and wiped final vomit residue off his mouth right before going to wash his hands, he saw the suspect leaning against the sink smoking weed.

"Hey," Doug said toughly. "Where did you get that?"

"What, you going to rat me out?" the suspect had wild brown hair and a letterman's jacket. He was your typical high school football god. Doug shook his head and leaned on the counter.

"No, no I want some. I'm crazy for that stuff but my mom found it and trashed it all. Who sells them to you?" The boy grinned and puffed out another big, silvery gray cloud from his mouth and watched it accumulate in the air before answering his question.

"No one, I grew the weed myself and rolled the joint myself. What are you willing to pay for it?" Doug rolled his eyes as if he were thinking it over. He reached into his pocket while casually saying,

"I'd say…a couple of years in prison." And pulled out his badge. "Sucks to be you right now, don't it?"

Another day (Well actually it took them six days to crack the case.), another joint smoking teenager. You'd think those kids would know what that stuff does to their bodies, and even though their mistakes pay for Tom's paycheck, he'd still rather they not do it. It was a ghastly habit.

Harry sat at his desk, filling out reports on the case he was on. Tom sighed to himself; he had to do the very same thing. He went to his desk and slowly, but surely, began his reports; although he kept himself distracted by looking for the right papers and a pen at different times.

"Ioki, Hoffs, Hanson, Penhall, Booker! My office!" Fuller shouted at the main cast of cops from the door in his office. They all thought it was odd; it was rare that they were all called into his office at the same time. But they went anyway.

Once they were all nicely assembled in the office, looking at each other in question about what Fuller could possibly want. Fuller stood at his door and immediately got to his point.

"Everyone, I want you to meet the newest member of the Jump Street Program." Fuller said before opening the door and shouted "Caldwell! Get in here!"


	2. Green Finch

**Chapter Two**

Green Finch

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 21 Jump Street, and am getting acquainted with the second season (after having seen the first and third one. :P I have the fourth season, I just haven't watched it yet… :) )

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The redhead girl from Tom and Doug's English class walked into Fuller's office, surprising only Doug and Tom (Considering they'd seen her before). Everyone else just looked at her as if she were any other person that they didn't know.

"This is Alice Caldwell; she was just transferred over to the Jump Street program two weeks ago." Doug stood there dumbly, he felt as if he'd seen Alice before. Her face, her hair, the light dust of freckles over her nose, there was just something oddly familiar about her, but he couldn't pin it exactly. "Hanson and Penhall had informally met her."

"Hi, I'm Judy." Judy said while Doug stood there trying to figure out where he'd seen her face before. Alice shook Judy's hand, followed by Tom's and Harry's. Doug didn't shake her hand, but she had it extended towards him. When he didn't shake it, she withdrew it; feeling rather foolish.

No one could think of a thing to say to her. So, to relieve everyone the pressures of having to think of something, Fuller ordered them back to their desks after giving Booker and Judy their undercover assignments.

Doug went to his desk and attempted to focus on his work. His eyes kept drifting up from the reports and towards Alice. _Where_ had he seen her before? Damn him for being so forgetful! He felt as if he should have remembered her, but why didn't he? It was important that he remembered; that was what his subconscious told him. Where…where had he seen her…?

"Hey man," Tom was waving his hand in front of Doug's eyes, but no dice. "You-hoo, Penhall?" Doug snapped back into reality in a quick flash, Tom was standing in front of his desk, looking rather agitated and confused over his sudden distraction. "What's with you Penhall?"

"Oh, sorry man; I just feel like I've seen Caldwell before. Don't you ever get that feeling?" Tom blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Oh yeah I forgot, you _never_ forget a face. But Still…"

He was left trying to figure out where he'd seen Alice for two days. Dorothy was agitated with him that he was thinking about another woman while he had her. But he knew he didn't remember Alice like _that_, if he even knew her at all. He'd said that to Dorothy, but being her outspoken self, somewhat didn't believe him. He slept on the sofa that night.

It wasn't until the next day after work that it _finally_ clicked.

Doug was at his locker, getting his stuff. He planned on going home to Dorothy and meatloaf. A most—unwelcome combination.

Alice had her locker open too; she was rummaging for her purse and jacket when Doug noticed the picture of a green Finch taped to the inside of her locker. He felt something in the back of his mind click.

"That's an odd picture to have in your locker," Doug mentioned to Alice about the Green Finch picture in her locker. She looked at the picture and then back at Doug with a big smile on her face.

"Oh, yes. Well, I like green finches and an old friend of mine called me Green Finch when I was a teenager. He used to call my sister Nightingale." Doug felt more and more memories clicking in his head as Alice explained the Green Finch picture to him. Before long, he was able to say,

"Alice, tell me. Was your name ever Alice Matson?" Her eyes widened for a few short moments before her head bobbed up and down.

"That's my maiden name."

"…and do you remember living next to a guy in high school living with his aunt and uncle? He got picked on by a kid named Jack?" Her head was bobbing wildly.

"Yeah, since my sophomore year in high school up until graduation. Why?" Doug shrugged and got his stuff. It was probably all coincidental, but he had to take a stab at it anyway. "Wait a minute," Alice continued before he could. "I remember _that_ face! Douglas Penhall. I should have recognized you when I heard your name."

"So you remember me?" Doug asked with a big smile on his face. Alice left her locker to give her long-lost friend a good, tight hug. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around playfully. "It's great to see you again! God, how long as it been?"

"Too long," Alice said gleefully, unlocking her arms from his neck and letting him drop her softly on the floor.

"Look at you, last time I saw you; you were a bubbly nerd. I never thought you'd get into the police academy. Let alone _through_ it."

"Oh, like I'm the only one who used luck to get through? Doug, you had a C+ Average. I'm surprised they let you in." She shook her head. "Not surprised you made it through though. You always were stubborn as a mule and tough as nails."

"Yeah, and you were always so passive—" he glanced down at his watch, but was shocked at how much time had passed since he was reunited with his old friend. "—geeze, I've got to get going. Dorothy will blow a gasket if I'm late."

"You're wife?" Alice questioned with a smile.

"No my-my girlfriend." He clarified quickly. "She'll get pissed off if I'm any later. I'll see you tomorrow. Green Finch."

"Bye Doug." Alice said, waving at him as he left to make it home to Dorothy. She'd be fully pissed if he was any later than he already was.

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o.o I know it probably doesn't make a lot of sence, I had a hell of a time with this part. But I'd say one of the harder parts is out of the way. The rest of it should be fairly easy me thinks.**


	3. In The Old Days

**Chapter Three**

In the old days

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 21 Jump Street, and am getting acquainted with the second season (after having seen the first and third one. :P I have the fourth season, I just haven't watched it yet… :) )

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When Alice got home she kicked her shoes off by the door, and put her purse down on the kitchen counter. She lived in a petite little house in the suburban pastel paradise. An apartment in the city closer to work would have been great, but she didn't want to worry about Emily.

Knowing herself as much as she did, she knew that every minute at work away from her girl would drive her insane. She wouldn't be able to work if she was worrying about her.

She would always be distracted, wondering if Emily was OK, if she stayed at home like she was supposed to, and if she was being taken care of properly. It was just easier living in the suburbs, where she felt worries like that didn't exist. Everyone in the neighborhood knew Emily and Alice.

The best part of the neighborhood was that the neighbors took it upon themselves to look out for one another. It was a wonderful community that wove a security blanket so strong that Alice put her thoughts of an apartment in the city far back in her mind. Why move away from people who care about you and want to help? And right then, she needed all the help she could take.

"Alice?" came a voice from up the stairs. Alice lifted her head and saw her sister, Melissa, walking down the stairs.

"Mel, what are you doing up? It's late." It actually was pretty late. Alice had called Melissa in advance and told her she was going to get a drink before she came home. Melissa was a wonderful sister—wonderful enough to let Alice and Emily live with her, her son, and her husband.

"I heard you come in," Melissa said, putting her hand in front of her mouth before yawning.

"You'll never guess who I work with," Alice began immediately. She didn't wait for her sister to tell her why she got up to meet her at the door—mostly because there wasn't a reason. She just did. "Doug Penhall."

"Who?"

"Doug! Remember? From high school. He called you Nightingale and he called me Green Finch." It took Melissa a minute or two before she snapped her fingers together in a big grin.

"Really?" Alice nodded her head. "My god, how long has it been since we last saw him? We must have him over for dinner some night!" Melissa was happy being a homemaker while her husband went out and made a living for his wife and son. He was a great guy, and Alice was almost jealous of Melissa for being married to someone so loving and fantastic. "You could invite him over Saturday night. Oh, I can't wait to see Doug again."

"He's got a girlfriend now," Alice said, descending the stairs and walking with her sister to the guest room where she was staying. "Dorothy I think he said her name was."

"Well, we have to invite them both over for dinner sometime, it would be fun." Melissa was right, not only was Alice curious about what kind of person Dorothy was, she didn't want to lose her friendship with Doug again. They stood outside the guest bedroom chatting before saying goodnight to each other and parting ways. Melissa went back to bed with her husband, and Alice went into the guest room.

While she changed out of her clothes and into her nightclothes, Alice remembered what it was like in high school for her and Melissa. They weren't the smartest or the prettiest in their class, or even in their school. In fact, they were considered to be nerds, since they were always smart and responsible. Due to their massive unpopularity, they mostly stayed with each other.

They were closer than most sisters were at their age. They grew up in an abusive home and had learned to only depend on each other. Their mother abused drugs while their father beat his girls. He didn't believe in the "spare the rod and punish the child" saying, it was "Use the rod _to _punish the child" for him.

But in their sophomore year, they met a young Doug Penhall. When they met him, they saw Doug's personal bully—Jack—smack his books on the floor as he did every day. Doug got on his knees to pick up his books, only to be surprised that Alice had knelt down to help him. They were almost immediately friends, and became an inseparable trio.

Doug wasn't anyone Alice or Melissa could love more than just a friend. It just wasn't possible for them—not that there was anything wrong with Doug. He was like a big brother to them, and his home was like a home-away-from-home. His aunt and uncle were always glad to have the Matson girls over, but Alice never knew if they agreed to let the girls come over so often so they could protect them. If they did, she would have to find them and thank them.

The last two and a half years in high school went by so fast after Doug, Melissa, and Alice became a trio. After graduation, Alice made a terrible mistake and Doug went off to the police academy. Melissa started dating Chuck after graduation, and he let her live with him so she wouldn't have to deal with her father anymore. Alice took the same escape route, except her's became a little less like salvation.

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Well, here's chapter 3. I hope ya'll liked it! I appreciate the reviews from The Shadow 111, yay:D**


	4. Dinner with Melissa

**Chapter Four**

Dinner with Melissa

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 21 Jump Street, and am getting acquainted with the second season (after having seen the first and third one. :P I have the fourth season, I just haven't watched it yet… :) )

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Doug leaned on a black locker in St. John's Catholic School where he and Alice were working undercover to solve a rape crime. Alice had to wear a plaid uniform while Doug had to dress in the boy's uniform, something that made him uncomfortable—it was mostly the tie he hated.

The thing was it choked him. He wasn't a suit-and-tie kind of guy, but a suit he could stand. A tie—it nearly choked him.

"Dinner?" He questioned as he pulled on the collar of the tie, trying to loosen it without it being 'non regulation'. Alice nodded her head as she pulled an English text book out of her locker.

"Melissa suggested it, and you should definitely come by. You can bring Dorothy too. She really wants you to meet Chuck and David, and I want you to meet Emily." Doug raised his eyebrow, the choking that the tie was causing had somewhat subsided, but now he was wondering who 'Chuck, David, and Emily' were.

"…and they are…?" Smiling, Alice closed her locker door.

"You'll see if you come over. Are you coming?" He considered it, and ended up nodding at her.

"Sure, we'll be there. Any specific time?"

"How about seven?" He nodded again.

"Seven sounds good." And after that they split ways, Alice heading to English and Doug heading to History. But before they split ways, Doug made a point to shove her against her locker. Not because he wanted to—because that was far from it. He had to tease her that was part of their undercover identities.

Alice sat in her seat neatly and placed her textbook on the desk. Why was it whenever she went undercover, she went as a nerd? Probably because it came so naturally to her. _Oh well,_ she thought. _It's better than being referenced to Lewis Carroll's book. _

It wouldn't be so bad if she and Doug weren't supposed to be polar opposites. She could sit with him at the coming lunch. But instead she would sit alone, and unfortunately that would bring back memories from her high school days when she and her sister would be the only ones at a certain table. Except it was different; they could keep each other company. This time it was just her.

Actually it wasn't as bad as she thought. Sure, she felt like a helpless dork sitting alone, but that it wasn't supposed to last forever. In fact, she kept herself entertained by thinking about Emily and making a list of what Melissa asked her to pick up at the grocery store for dinner after work. She liked to help Melissa out, it was the least she could do.

"Hey," She glanced upwards and saw one Frank Milner, age 17, light brown moppish hair, never had a detention in his life, good with computers, Clique type: computer geek. Giving him a small smile, she replied as such. "Do you mind if I sit here?" She shook her head.

"Go a head." He nodded nervously before setting down his red plastic tray and sitting across from her. She took a Stephen King novel out of her purse and began to read it, she was a big Stephen King fan—and besides, reading helped her cover.

"Um, w-which book is that?" He was stumbling over his words, clumsily trying to make conversation with the pretty red-head. She glanced up and put her bookmark in the book before answering.

"The Tommyknockers." She replied nicely.

"Oh, I read that. I-I read a lot of Stephen King's books. I'm a big fan,"

"Isn't he a great writer?" Frank nodded furiously. Before they knew it, they were having a conversation about Stephen King and his books. Frank wouldn't tell her how Tommyknockers ended, not even when she nearly begged him.

"Its better when you read it yourself," Frank said. He began to stumble over his words less and less as Alice made friendly conversation with him all through lunch.

Frank was actually a friendly kid, cute too. If Alice were seventeen again, she might have considered liking him. But he was too young for her, and in fact she actually didn't think she was ready to date anyone, period. She tried a few times, but it never felt right, she was scared—and always fled.

Besides, why should she date? She had Emily to think about and take care of.

"Come on," She glanced over her shoulder and saw a slick looking boy talking with an Asian girl. The girl looked nice enough, but the boy looked like trouble, He was leaning on the locker beside the girl. "Let's do this,"

"No," She ordered him strongly. "I don't want to Bobby, I _really_ don't." She didn't hear the rest of the argument because she and Frank had gotten into their next class, Chemistry.

Doug was in there too, talking with some of the bigger guys who looked like bullies. She—without entirely thinking anything through—went up to Doug and said Hi to him.

"Hi," He said back, unsteadily as if he didn't know her. It wasn't until she remembered she wasn't supposed to talk to him that she felt herself shrinking. The other guys were giving her a mocking smile, laughing at that nerd for trying to talk to a cool guy. Swallowing hard, she backed away and re-joined Frank at the table.

"What was that all about?" Greg Marks asked Doug after Alice had gone to her seat.

"Hell if I know," Doug lied. He wanted to have said "Hi" to Alice had not have embarrassed her.

"You must know her, I saw you talking to her at her locker this morning." Steven said, putting his feet up on the lab tables. Dangerously close to the glass test tubes.

"I was askin' her where room 616 was. Geeze, you know these girl geeks, you ask one simple question and they think you're their boyfriend." The three guys laughed, the third one was Toni. Doug didn't laugh at his own joke, but the guys laughed loud enough for Alice to hear them.

She tried to keep in mind that Doug was really her friend, that it was all to solve a rape crime. Doug would never treat her like that, they were friends. She had to keep reminding herself of that and she would be fine. After class had ended for the day, she had convinced herself that it was true, and she knew it was. She had to be grown up about the matter; she wasn't that nerdy little high school girl she was pretending to be. She had matured, grown up, and become a cop. She was there to catch a rapist, not make friends.

Alice and Doug drove back to the Chapel separately, but met up in front of the Chapel before going in.

"Alice, I'm real sorry about how I acted." He said first and foremost. He hated picking on Alice; she was like a little sister to him.

"It's perfectly fine Doug. I understand. Don't forget, seven tonight." He nodded with a big, goofy smile on his face. Alice loved Doug's goofy smiles.

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Doug and Dorothy came by at seven just as they had promised to. Dorothy at first was reluctant about going to see one of Doug's high school girlfriends. But he had explained to her completely that he, Melissa, and Alice were just friends. Nothing more, nothing less. They would never be like Dorothy thought. He just didn't like her like that.

Melissa opened the door and at first, Doug didn't recognize her.

"This is 1718 Cherry Street, isn't it?" Doug asked when he saw Melissa—and not Alice. Melissa nodded and warmly greeted Doug.

"Yes it is, it's nice to see you again Doug, and you must be Dorothy." Dorothy shook Melissa's hand, but looked unhappy as she was invited into the little suburban house. "It shouldn't be much longer before dinner is ready, and Alice should be down here any minute."

Just as Melissa had finished telling Doug and Dorothy that Alice would be down any minute, she came—almost as if she'd been beckoned by her sister.

"Hi Doug, you must be Dorothy." Alice said kindly, shaking Dorothy's hand.

"And you must be Alice; Doug can't stop talking about you." She sounded almost bitter about it, "You two must have been real good friends."

"The best, nearly inseparable, But I want to hear about you Dorothy." It seemed like a nice thing to say, and it was. But before Dorothy could open her mouth to say anything; the three of them heard a tiny voice coming from the stairs. "One minute," and Alice went to the stairs.

When she came back, she was holding a little five-year-old redhead's hand. The little girl was wearing a cute, blue sundress with a sunflower for buttons up the back. She looked like a miniature Alice, so much so that Doug and Dorothy shared a slightly confused look.

"This is Emily, my daughter." Emily watched as Doug gave Dorothy an uneasy smile before kneeling down to greet her. But she immediately ran behind her mother and hid behind her leg. Alice knelt down to Emily, "Emily, this is Doug. He's a friend of mommy's." but she still wouldn't go near him. She hid behind her mother, occasionally looking out from behind her arm.

"Everyone," Melissa called from the archway leading to the hall with the stairs. On the other side of the stairs was the kitchen/dining room. "Dinner is ready," so they all filed into the kitchen, Emily hurrying behind her mother so she wouldn't have to walk with Doug.

During dinner, the adults talked about what had happened in their lives. Alice wanted to talk about what happened to her, but she didn't want to bring it up with Emily around. So Melissa talked about how she met Chuck, and how a year after they moved in together she got pregnant.

"He was wonderful about it," Melissa remembered. "Married me right away. Said it was the best thing he ever did. Didn't you honey?" Chuck was sitting beside Melissa, his thick brown hair brushing around his shoulders and his light stubble giving his face a soft, prickly feeling.

"And it was. We had David here." David was around the same age as Emily. But he wasn't nearly as shy. He was boasting about his accomplishments of the day before. Saying that he had 'helped mommy in the kitchen' and being very proud of it. Emily remained relatively silent, and Alice knew why.

"Come on Em, David." Melissa finally said. "It's time to go to bed." The two children obediently stopped eating and followed the adult upstairs to be tucked in. Emily and David shared a room, considering there were two too many living in the house. It was only built for a family of three plus a guest.

"Emily is adorable Alice," Doug finally said, breaking the silence. "Where is her father." The only sound after that was the sound of Chuck dropping his fork on the plate in shock. Quickly he picked it up as Alice tried to think of how to begin it.

"Right now, I don't know." She decided was the best way to say it. "I'm going to check on Emily." And quickly she retreated up the stairs. Dorothy smacked Doug on the arm and gave him a death glare.

"If she wanted to talk about it, she'd have brought it up you dummy." It seemed like after Alice left, Melissa came back. Because once Alice had left, Melissa came down the stairs and back into the dining room.

"Doug," Melissa began. "I think I should tell you what happened with Emily's father. Alice she—she doesn't like to talk about it. In fact—she told me to tell you." Doug and Dorothy nodded; it was weird how they did that kind of thing in unison. "It started right after graduation. I moved in with Chuck and you went off to the police academy. But Alice decided to get married, well—actually, Graduation night; she slept with Barry Caldwell, you remember him—don't you?" He nodded quickly.

"Guy was a grade-A ass." He said spitefully.

"Right, after her one-night stand with him, she finds out she's pregnant with Emily. Our father insisted on a shot-gun wedding. So Alice and Barry got married, but their marriage wasn't exactly a great one.

"She came to me numerous times in tears because Barry had been abusing her. She wouldn't leave him though; she claimed to love him too much for that. Nothing changed, not even after Emily was born. She had hoped that it would though; she hoped that a baby would change him.

"Actually, he began hitting Emily too. He sent them both to the hospital on occasion but would blame it on them. Saying they were clumsy. She just recently left him, about a month and a half ago I think."

"That son of a bitch," Doug muttered. He had no idea Alice had gotten herself into that kind of trouble, if he had—he'd have protected her from that jerk. He would have kept her from being hit.

**

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Yay chappie four :D **

**Not a lot to say actually.**

**Except for this:**

"**BLAAAAAHHH"**


	5. Tom takes Alice Drinking

**Chapter Five**

Tom takes Alice Drinking

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 21 Jump Street, and am getting acquainted with the second season (after having seen the first and third one. :P I have the fourth season, I just haven't watched it yet… :) )

* * *

Frank was a good friend; he was very kind to Alice while she was at St. John's Catholic School. Everyone thought the two were a couple, even though Alice denied it whenever someone asked her. If she agreed with it, it would be called something else once she stopped being a school girl and started being a cop again.

Alice was so sure that the culprit was that Bobby guy who was trying to get his jollies from his Asian girlfriend that first day she was there. She was so sure he was it, but when she brought it up with Fuller, he said in his usually pissed-off tone,

"Don't ever assume anything Caldwell!" and sent her back to the school to collect evidence or catch him in the act.

She just wanted to leave. She wanted to go on a different case, one that didn't require her to be the bud of everyone's jokes. She hated it when she was in high school for real, and she hated it even after she grew up.

Oh well, no point in getting all worked up over it, the rapist had to slip up sooner or later; didn't he?

Then the idea came to mind, what if it was just a one-time raping?

No, Fuller said that three girls had been raped within two weeks before Doug and Alice started the case. The first one might have been an accident, but the odds of all three of them being an accident were actually pretty low.

"Alice?" She lifted her head out of the English book and up at Frank standing in front of her desk as everyone left the English class. Quickly, she gathered her things as Frank asked why she was so distracted.

"I was just thinking is all," Alice said agreeably. Frank didn't look like he was buying that, but he didn't disagree. Alice had spent all of class with her face in the English book, at first he thought she was paying attention, turned out she just had something else on her mind.

Frank had to go to the computer room before his next class, so Alice went to her locker alone. Although not completely alone because Doug had joined up with her shortly, evading the suspicion of his "friends" by shoving and laughing at her to start with. When they left, he apologized.

"Its fine Doug," Alice said as she gathered her things quickly. Doug made small talk with her instead of discussing the case, he was mostly asking if she was alright and if that Frank guy had tried anything. But as she opened her mouth to say Frank was just a friend she lifted out a piece of lined paper torn out of a three-ring binder. "What's this?"

"Let me see" and Doug took it out of her hands to read. "You're so pretty; I can't help but want you. Meet me by the fountain at 2:15." Doug swallowed a hard laugh while Alice snatched the note from him. "Well, are you going to go?"

"I probably should, this might be our guy." Doug nodded,

"Just be careful." And she promised she would be. All was really all she _could_ do was _try _and be careful.

She waited until two fourteen before asking the teacher for the bathroom pass. It seemed like the simplest way to get out of class without having to lie, too much anyway.

So she stood beside the water fountain waiting for her secret 'admirer'; tapping her foot on the echoing marble floor as she leaned against the wall, waiting patiently.

Before too long, someone did come by, but it was only Frank.

"Alice?" He said softly, if it weren't for the fact that they were alone—she wouldn't have been able to hear him. "Thanks for coming." Alice felt an odd unhappiness in her chest, Frank had…?

"You wrote the note?" She questioned before Frank nodded his head quickly.

"I-I just, I thought you were so cute when I first saw you. I—I wanted to ask you to go out with me." Alice bit her lower lip, she didn't want to go out with him—she also couldn't, not without being called some very bad names.

"Oh—Frank I—I'm flattered, really. But I can't go out with you." He looked completely crushed, but he refused to take no for an answer. He grabbed her arms and pushed her against the locker with a force that one would not expect a nerd to have.

"You have to go out with me; it would be for your best interest."

"Are you _threatening_ me?" he shrugged.

"Will you or not?"

"I told you, No!" But his strength seemed to double; he kept her pinned on the lockers, his hands crushing her arms. "Stop it Frank! You're hurting me!" But he wouldn't stop. When he squeezed her arms enough so that she was writhing on the locker in pain, a flash came before her eyes.

Barry was squeezing her arms and throwing her around like a rag doll, smacking her across the face, pulling on her hair and beating her daughter. Frank's sudden change made her remember Barry, and made her want to cry. Even though she had left him of her own free will, she still desperately missed him. Her first love, the first and only man she ever slept with, the father of her first daughter. She loved him, even though she knew that being with him was lethal.

Frank's mouth clamped on her neck as she ordered him to stop, but he wasn't going to, it was while he was unzipping his blue jeans—still with one hard hand pinning her against he locker— that she reached to the far corner where a fire alarm was. Her fingers gently brushed over it, but with not enough force to actually pull it—she was too far away.

_Come on, Come on_ she thought to herself as she put the very tips of her fingers and tried to push it down. It just barely moved, but she had to keep trying, even as she was attempting to free herself, Frank was trying to have his way with her right there in the hallway. But the thing was—it was one of those hallways with no security cameras or people constantly bustling in and out. If she couldn't pull the alarm, she would be another victim.

With one more stubborn attempt, Alice pushed on the alarm harder with the tips of her fingers, slowly but surely bringing it down, before long a loud; cricket noise screeched towards the school, and Frank was caught in the act by about 3 dozen people. Doug being one of them.

He dove at Frank and kicked him away from Alice. Who he immediately tended to as a teacher held Frank down on the ground after Doug gave the order and revealed himself as a cop.

"Are you OK?" Doug asked quickly, receiving numb nods from Alice, who was still coping with the realization that she still loved Barry, something—no matter how much she wanted to—she couldn't tell Doug about.

The two went back to the chapel together, and Alice tried to hide her abrupt, excruciating, awareness. It worked quite well actually, because no body in the chapel thought anything was wrong, not even Doug who she spent the rest of the afternoon talking and joking with. Alice was always good at swallowing her emotions, especially sad ones. Part of something she picked up growing up in the kind of home she did.

Near the end of the day, Alice asked Fuller if she could go to her car a minute, and he said it was fine. She'd already filled out her report and handed it in, there was really nothing left for her to do.

At the end of the day, long after the sun had set and everyone had left, Tom Hanson was the only one left at the chapel besides Fuller, who was leaving too.

"Staying late Hanson?"

"Don't have anything else to do Coach," Tom admitted as he played with the basket ball thing in the office. Fuller shrugged and told Tom to go home. Tom reluctantly did what his captain said, mostly because he didn't find it fun anymore to be in the chapel alone. It was no different than his lonely apartment.

Fuller went to his car across the parking lot, and Tom went to his classic mustang that was sitting beside an old looking, blue truck. He reached into his pocket and got his car keys out, but as he went in to unlock his car, he heard the soft sounds of sniffles from the blue truck. Shrugging to himself, he put the keys back into his pocket and went to the truck, trying to get some idea of who was inside it.

Turned out, it was Alice; the new girl Doug had recently realized was his old friend. She had her arm around the top of the wheel of her truck, and her head against her arm. She was sobbing, but trying to be quiet about it. Hearing Tom approaching, she quickly swiped her arm over her eyes and looked out her window. But he'd already seen her.

"You're Caldwell right, Doug's friend?" she nodded quickly, giving him the most faux smile she could come up with. He saw right through it though, although she didn't know how. "What are you doing out here? Didn't you leave like—hours ago?" She shook her head.

"I—I couldn't get my car started."

"Oh?" He reached in and turned the key. Sure enough, the truck happily started up. She gave him a very sheepish smile. "Now what was the real reason?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"_Because_ if you don't I'll tell Doug you were crying and he'll make it his mission in life to correct the situation." His answer was very blunt, but also very effective. "Why don't I buy you a drink, and we talk about it?" that seemed fine, there was no problem in getting free drinks from an attractive coworker. Was there?

* * *

Alice poured the delicious beer down her throat and licked her lips after taking the glass away. Ah, sweet alcohol, her momentary salvation.

"So," Tom began after he'd gotten his drink. "Start talking."

"It wasn't anything to be concerned about Tom," Alice began. "Really."

"If it as nothing, then you wouldn't have been crying, would you?" Damn him and his infernal logic!

"Well—you wouldn't understand unless you knew everything behind it, and that would take longer than this one drink." Tom shrugged.

"I've got time," he replied. "And I can get more drinks." Alice looked down into the alcoholic liquid a moment, and then for some reason; she started talking. She started at the beginning, how she was abused as a kid, how she married Barry because she needed to get out of her father's house, and how he turned out just like her father.

Why was she even telling him those things? She didn't know him like that. But no matter how many times her subconscious told her to shut up, she kept talking. Upchucking words like old faithful upchucking steam and whatever else was in it. She probably told him because she had a feeling he wouldn't judge her or exact revenge as Doug would. Tom was there to listen, and only offer his suggestions when she asked.

"And after what happened at St. John's Catholic School, I realize I'm still in love with him. I know it's awful, still loving a man who treated me and my Emily like dirt, but I can't help it. I'll probably just get over it sooner or later, right?"

"Maybe," Tom replied as he lifted his glass up to his mouth and took a drink from it. "I think what you need to do is think about what's best for Emily, you might realize that there are guys better out there than this Barry guy." She nodded, but in all actuality she didn't believe him. Barry was the best she could do in a man; no 'good guy' would want her.

"Possibly..." she took another drink before asking, "You won't tell Doug about all this, will you? I love the guy to death but he isn't great at letting me handle my own problems. He'd probably find Barry and break his balls." The corner of Tom's mouth turned upwards as he made his promise.

"I won't tell."

**

* * *

Aww :D Tommiekinz!**

**Sorry it took me so long to update, I actually had to write this one, the others I had stored up on my computer since I started the fic. Ima go now. Bieee :D**


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